Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Laura Story singing, the song she wrote, Blessings, poignantly expressing the reality that God’s blessings so often come in very unwelcome packages when the circumstances of life seem anything other than a “blessing.”
Highlight Passage: Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
… “All things?” … REALLY?!!
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Highlight Context – Romans 8: 28-30 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s plan just doesn’t seem fair at times.
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Reference Passage #1 - Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… It’s the “lean not on our own understanding” part that’s tough at times.
Reference Passage #2 - Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… And there are times when God’s will and His ways are just SO HARD to understand.
Reference Passage #3 - 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… So, if this is true - and it is, of course! - then Romans 8: 28 must be true as wall - ALWAYS!!
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Lawrence Darmani, uses, as his highlight teaching passage, one of the hardest truths in all of the NT to grasp - especially when we’re in the midst of really tough circumstances (see attached photo, extracted from today’s ODB entry).
Common, … admit it! Life just doesn’t seem fair at times, does it? And some of life’s twists and turns just make Romans 8: 28 hard to believe. “All things” for our good? … REALLY?!! … But if Paul was writing truth in 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17, that ALL scripture is God-breathed and true, then His truth from the Romans 8 passage is also true; and we must then realize that what Laura Story wrote about and sings about in the linked song above is also true - that some of God’s biggest blessings are disguised in life-bringing tears and the anguish of tough times.
Many reading here may be able to think back to times when believing Romans 8: 28 and the truth of Isaiah 55: 8-9 was just hard to swallow and to think of the trials of life as “blessings.” But then we remember how those tough times led to some of our strongest growth in Christ and brought us closest to God, we remember how God worked those tough times as blessings in our lives.
So, if anyone reading here is going through one of those rough times and we feel like Paul did when he was visited with that thorn in the flesh (see 2nd Cor. 12: 7-10 - linked here) … and we want to cry out, “Take it away, Lord!!” Well, take note that the toughness of our circumstances is all part of God’s plan to make us over into His own image.
So, … we move on in that reality today!!
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … I do recognize that ALL THINGS are from You and for me. Help me to grow closer to You in that truth today. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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